1. Which of the possible venues do you think would best suit this play? Why do you believe the dramatic action would be best served in this venue? I think that it would be performed best in a thrust theater. A thrust theater would allow for several different backdrops and would minimize the number of dilemmas with producing/ staging the nuanced, detailed scenes that occur within the play.
2. What are some of the design challenges posed by the play? Throughout the play, the setting shifts back and forth, making set design pretty challenging. For example, many of the scenes occur in a car, however, others are set in Peck’s basement, a middle school dance, various rooms of family houses, and a restaurant. This would require a variety of backdrops and/or definitive props (indicating the setting) and would be aided by distinctive lighting and sounds to help clarify shifts in setting.
3. Choose the various chorus characters and discuss how you see them dressed. In what ways do you think the costumes you describe would help articulate their purpose in this play? Because both the female and teenage Greek chorus figures both play various roles from different age groups, their costumes should be composed of clothes that create ambiguity as to the age of the wearer. The same could be said for the male Greek chorus, who also plays a variety of ages, such as the grandfather and the senior from Walt Whitman High School.
4. Provide some ideas about the use of light in the play? Light could be used to imply movement of the car. Fluorescent lights could be used to indicate the scenes based inside the house and school. A really great use of lighting would be a disco ball for the middle school dance scene.
5. Suggest music and sound effects that could help accentuate the mood or atmosphere of the play. It may be worth incorporating sounds of wind of varying speeds and the sounds of an engine (idling, running, revving the start-up, the noises of the shift-stick gears, etc.) to really convince the audience of the presence and movement of the car and emphasize the title and narrative format of the play.
I think that it would be performed best in a thrust theater. A thrust theater would allow for several different backdrops and would minimize the number of dilemmas with producing/ staging the nuanced, detailed scenes that occur within the play.
2. What are some of the design challenges posed by the play?
Throughout the play, the setting shifts back and forth, making set design pretty challenging. For example, many of the scenes occur in a car, however, others are set in Peck’s basement, a middle school dance, various rooms of family houses, and a restaurant. This would require a variety of backdrops and/or definitive props (indicating the setting) and would be aided by distinctive lighting and sounds to help clarify shifts in setting.
3. Choose the various chorus characters and discuss how you see them dressed. In what ways do you think the costumes you describe would help articulate their purpose in this play?
Because both the female and teenage Greek chorus figures both play various roles from different age groups, their costumes should be composed of clothes that create ambiguity as to the age of the wearer. The same could be said for the male Greek chorus, who also plays a variety of ages, such as the grandfather and the senior from Walt Whitman High School.
4. Provide some ideas about the use of light in the play?
Light could be used to imply movement of the car. Fluorescent lights could be used to indicate the scenes based inside the house and school. A really great use of lighting would be a disco ball for the middle school dance scene.
5. Suggest music and sound effects that could help accentuate the mood or atmosphere of the play.
It may be worth incorporating sounds of wind of varying speeds and the sounds of an engine (idling, running, revving the start-up, the noises of the shift-stick gears, etc.) to really convince the audience of the presence and movement of the car and emphasize the title and narrative format of the play.